It rained buckets the afternoon after the July 3rd parade, and our “Freedom” float came apart at the seams. Everything was curling at every edge. The color in the crepe paper decorations ran everywhere.
Dave Bryant tore the crepe paper off in the rain before the dye could do anymore damage. Then he came down to Registration and told me how bad the float looked. I called Samantha Harper and headed for the back door. Sam and I assessed the damage and decided what we could do before the parade the next day to remake our float.
Samantha took extra crepe paper home to make new braided decorations so we could redo the float before the parade on the 4th. The next morning, I went to the Center at 7:30 am to fix the curling, clean off the mud, reattach the bows and our parade number, and be ready for Samantha when she got there. Sam attached the braids and we looked as good as new. We felt pretty good when we were driving the float to get in line.
As we all waited in line for the start of the parade (we were number 92), a Stampede Committee vehicle drove up and stopped. Jesi Bennett and I walked over to talk to the driver. I saw ribbons on the seat and asked “did we win?”
Yes, we won! The results were in, “Center Wins Cody Promotional Award.” We had two banners to hang on one of our vehicles in the July 4th parade, although we did have to give the banners back. Actually, a member of the parade committee took the banners right off the truck at the end of the parade route while we were still on the road. We were also given a beautiful plaque, ribbon, and even a check. Maybe Bruce will put the money in the employee party fund.
It was a wonderful 3rd and 4th of July! Now, what are we going to do to top this next year? Samantha and I are going to co-chair next year’s parade float committee. We can’t wait to hear what next year’s theme is so we can start planning.
